Sonic Adventure 3
by Elise Lowing
Summary: Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends, both old and new, are in for the adventure of their lives. A terrible darkness has been unleashed in the country of Soleanna and threatens to devour the whole world into oblivion. With the fate of the world on the line, Sonic, Shadow, and their new friend Silver, will need all the power they have at their disposal to prevent this disaster.
1. Chapter 1

**Sonic Adventure 3**

 **I have made a new version of this already, but I realized that it needed some polishing up. This time, Sonic, Shadow, and Silver will have their stories combined. There will also be better explanations as to why things are the way they are with artifacts and characters. While my other stories were good, I hope to make them better with this.**

 **I think I should also mention that this is going to part of a head-canon. In other words, I imagine this is how Sonic Next Gen. should've gone and that it is part of the main story.**

 **This takes place after "Shadow the Hedgehog". (I consider that game to part of the main canon, not a spin-off.)**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sonic Next Gen., I am merely exploring an alternate story.**

 **With that said, let's begin!**

* * *

 **The Festival of the Sun**

The sound of fireworks exploding and the joyous cries of people rang into the night sky. The water that flowed in a series of canals reflected the brilliance of the light. Fizzling streams of fireworks rained down like snow before slowly dissolving into the night sky. They were followed by one after another with perfect timing.

Crowds of cheering people along the side of the canals gathered around as a large, decorative boat gracefully made its way toward a large centerpiece in the center of the city.

On the very tip of the bow of the boat was a young teenaged girl. Her short ruby red hair only went down just past her neck, and she had two golden and feathered ornaments on each side of her head. Her bright sapphire blue eyes seemed to reflect her smile as she happily and gracefully waved to the crowds on the edge of the canals.

Her white dress, coming down just a little past her knees, had silver trimmings with the kingdom's crest in each individual diamond shaped pattern. She wore slightly tanned leggings, with silver high-heeled shoes on her feet. Around the upper part of her dress was a gold X-shaped pattern with thin black lining. Her white gloves went up just past her elbows and were lined with feathers at the cuffs. Her dress left her shoulders bare, but the short; cambric sleeves covered a small part of her upper arms.

Around her neck, sparkling in the light of the fireworks, was a small diamond necklace. The diamond was in a gold base, and was hanging on a silver neck-chain.

The boat slowly came to a stop in front of the platform that led up to a large, embellished lamp. The girl, followed by two women clothed in brown robes, gracefully stepped off the bow and onto the steps that lead up to the center.

Three others greeted her there with a bow. She graciously curtsied in response. Two of them were Human men garbed in brown capes. The one in the middle, who was holding a was a golden torch with a bright flame already blazing out the top, was a short, brown Mobian Chipmunk. The red and white ceremonial robes he was dressed showed his position as the High Priest, and the thin white mustache and small beard showed that he was an elder.

He stepped forward towards the girl and the torch.

The girl took the torch and held it for a moment. She stared into the fire, feeling its warmth, and subtle tears began to form in her eyes. For a brief moment, she could see in her mind's eye her father smiling at her with pride and love.

"Miss Elise?" a female voice said softly, interrupted her thoughts. "Is something wrong?"

Elise quickly came back to reality, blinking for a moment before turning to the lady who had spoken and saying calmly:

"No, I'm all right. Let us proceed."

Elise and the others bowed for a second.

"We give thanks for the blessed flames." Elise recited. "May we always continue to have peace. Sun of Soleanna, guide and watch over us with your eternal light."

The Princess then walked forward, lowered the torch to a small lamp, and the fire ignited. The flames quickly snaked through channels that lead up to the largest torch that overlooked the platform, and the fire ignited in a magnificent splendor and the crowds cheered again. More golden fireworks exploded in the sky and gave the night a feeling of magical radiance.

Elise happily waved to the crowds for a brief moment, sharing in their joy of the celebration. She turned back to the High Priest who handed her the torch and gave it back to him.

As she did so, he beckoned for her to lean down bit so that he could whisper something to her. She became uneasy when she saw the look on his face was one of hidden distress.

"What is it, High Priest?"

"Princess," the High Priest said solemnly, his voice old and gruff, "I have some unfortunate news that you must know about. The Scepter has been stolen."

Elise gave a sharp gasp of fear. She quickly remembered that she was supposed to be at a joyful celebration and restrained any more outbursts.

Instead, she took a deep breath and whispered, "When and how was it stolen? Do you know?"

"We aren't quite sure how it was stolen," the High Priest replied. "All we know is that it taken shortly before the ceremony started. We don't who did it, but we do have a few… suspicions."

"Do you think it was them? But…they were destroyed ten years ago."

"I can't say for certain, but I wouldn't rule that out. Fortunately, we have some G.U.N. agents in the area. They are looking into this even as we speak. All the same, I believe we should deal with the Amulet."

Elise looked down at the pendent around her neck, lightly touching it with her fingers. After pondering over what the priest had told her, she looked back up and nodded.

"Very well," she said. "Tell the elder priests to meet at the Temple of Solaris. I'll meet you there as soon as I can. Then we can discuss what to do next. But be discrete; we don't want to cause a panic among the citizens."

"Understood," the High Priest nodded. "Just be careful, Your Highness."

Elise straightened herself up and bowed. She then ushered for her attendants to follow her back to the boat.

* * *

 _An Hour Later…_

Down in the city, the streets near the canals were crowded with people. Both Humans an Mobians alike were walking around and checking out the stalls that had been set up for the festival. The sound of light-hearted chatter, footsteps, and food sizzling in the frying pans all mixed together into a lively atmosphere. The smell of Soleanna food freshly cooked floated through the air. It made anyone's mouth water when the aroma reached their nose.

Among the crow were three Mobians. Two of them were Hedgehogs and the other was a Fox. Like all Mobians, they were about half the height of a full-grown Human, and had a mix between human and animal-like qualities. It was clear to see that they possessed a high level of intelligence such as the ability to speak and think.

One of the Hedgehogs, who was the only girl in the group, mostly had pink fur, but her arms had a light tan color. Her hair - which was actually quills - was short and straight. She wore a matching outfit that consisted of a red dress with white lining, a red headband, and a pair of ankle-high boots with a white stripe running of the middle of each of them.

The young Fox had yellow and white fur, baby-blue eyes, and two fluffy tails. On his hands, he wore white gloves with thin, black bracelets; and on his feet, were red and white sneakers with clean white socks.

The other Hedgehog, who was the tallest one in the group by just a few inches, mostly had fur the color of deep blue. However, he also had tan fur on his arms and stomach. On his hands, he wore white gloves. On his feet, were white socks and red shoes. Each shoe had a white band that was held together by a rectangular golden clasp.

Their names were Amy Rose, Tails, and Sonic.

At the moment, the three of them were walking through the crowds of the city, looking around at all of the festivities that were going on.

"Isn't this great?!" Amy said excitedly. "Everything is so lively here!"

"Well, the Festival of the Sun is one of the important events in Soleanna." Tails explained. "It celebrates their sun god, Solaris."

"Heh, someone's been doing his homework, as usual." Sonic grinned sarcastically.

"Well, yeah." Tails replied. "Ever since Amy won that sweepstakes, I've been studying about Soleanna and its history. It's actually has quite a rich history. For example, this holiday is actually a celebration of when Solaris defeated…"

"Yeah, yeah, very interesting." Sonic waved his hand dismissively. "Let's just get back to having fun. I want to see if they have any chili dogs around here."

Amy looked at Sonic with a slightly annoyed expression. While she knew perfectly well that he had a sarcastic streak to him, it was starting to irritate her now.

"This is a country festival, Sonic," she said sharply. "They wouldn't have tourist foods here. Besides, we didn't come to Soleanna to eat chili dogs. We came to relax and see the country for its beauty."

"Actually, you only invited us because that sweepstakes allowed you to invite two friends," the blue Hedgehog replied.

"Well, I noticed you didn't turn down my offer." Amy said, folding her arms across her front and looking at Sonic with an impish grin.

"That's because I had nothing better to do." Sonic shrugged.

That remark made Amy frown. But Sonic didn't seem to take any notice of it. He just continued talking.

"Besides, Eggman hasn't launch any kind of attack in weeks. I'm starting to think that…"

Suddenly, a tall, slender Human girl came rushing through the crowd and collided with Sonic. Since Sonic was shorter than the Human by about two feet, she tripped over him and both of them fell to the ground.

"Ow!"

Both Amy and Tails jumped and turned around when they heard Sonic slam into the pavement and exclaim in pain. The incident didn't just catch Amy and Tails's attention. Everyone who heard the commotion all turned at once to see what happened.

The Human groaned and rubbed her cheek, which now had a small scrap on it. When she had gotten her sense back, she jolted in surprise and hastily got off of the blue Hedgehog, scrabbling back a bit as she did.

With the extra weight off of him, Sonic was able to get to his hands and knees. He looked over to see who had fallen on him.

The Human wore a violet sleeveless, along with a long, dark gray sports skirt with tight, black shorts underneath that stretched almost down to her knees. Around her waist was a black belt with a hip-pouch on her right side. On her feet were purple and black tennis shoes and white ankle-high socks. On her hands were black, fingerless gloves, and she wore black and purple elbow and knee guards. On her head, and covering her hair, was a tannish polyester hat with a wide rim.

But the thing that surprised Sonic was that she was also wearing a pair of sunglasses. And not small, thin ones at that. They were so large that they covered her eyes completely. They looked totally out of place, as this festival was during the night and was only lit up by lanterns.

When the girl saw whom she had run into, she froze. Although her eyes were hidden behind the dark shades, her eyebrows raised noticeably up. Her mouth fell open and she stared right at Sonic.

But Sonic was oblivious to that detail.

"Hey, you mind watching where you're going?" Sonic said, getting to his feet and wiping some dirt of his arms.

"Sonic?"

Sonic blinked and paused for a moment. He could've sworn that girl had just whispered his name.

It was at this moment that Sonic noticed the way she was staring at him. He looked back at her with a confused and uncomfortable expression. It wasn't so much that fact that she knew his name that made him uneasy. He knew that he was famous from his heroic deeds in the past. He was used to going someone and getting looks of admiration when someone recognized him.

But this girl was looking at him like he was some kind of ghost.

"Uh, you okay?" Sonic asked tentatively, not quite sure of what to do.

The girl jerked her head slightly before shaking it. She then hastily got to her feet.

"Y-Yes," she stuttered, her voice sounding just slightly distressed. "I'm fine. I'm very sorry, but I'm in a bit of a hurry. Please, excuse me."

The girl immediately set out again. Some people tried asking her if she was fine and even offered a helping hand. She just gently turned them down, raising her right hand to her face like she wanted to hide behind it.

In a matter of seconds, she disappeared among the people of the crowd.

"Who was that?" Tails asked.

"You got me." Sonic replied. "But it's no wonder she ran into me. I doubt she can see much with those sunglasses on."

"Wait, she had sunglasses on?" Amy asked, confused.

"Yeah, how could you miss them?" Sonic replied.

It was then that Sonic heard a clinking sound from below him. He looked down at the ground and saw there was a diamond on a gold neck-chain beside his left foot. He bent down and picked it up. He held it in his hand for a moment, looking at it with curiosity.

"What's that, Sonic?" Amy asked when she saw the pendant.

"Don't know," the cobalt hedgehog replied. "But I bet it belongs to that girl. She must have dropped it when we bumped into each other."

"We should return it to her then." Tails suggested.

"I can do that."

Sonic slipped the necklace into his right glove.

"Be back in a flash," he said with a smirk and a wink.

Before Amy and Tails had time to debate on the matter, Sonic was off like a shot. He ran so fast that he caused several people to stagger from the powerful wind his speed produced. When he saw his chance, he quickly scaled up the wall of a nearby building so that he could run on the rooftops. With a birds-eye-view, he was would be able to see where the girl went and where she was heading.

After a few minutes, he found her again. However, there was something about the direction she was heading in that made Sonic start to become suspicious. She wasn't participating with the festivities, and she didn't seem to be meeting up with anyone.

If anything, she didn't seem interesting in the Festival at all.

On top of that, the way she was moving her head made it clear to Sonic that she was trying to see if anyone was following her. Obviously, she was trying to get through the crowd unnoticed.

"Where's she going?" Sonic asked himself. "I should probably keep an eye on her. It's not safe for someone like her to be out her on her own."

Eventually, the girl came to an abandoned street. She stopped for a moment and took off her sunglasses and put them in her hip pouch. Sonic tried to get a good look at her face. But since he was on top of a building, and it was nighttime, he couldn't see her

The girl began to run down the street. Despite the fact that she was alone, she still looked defensive. She obviously didn't want to be seen.

However, she hadn't gone more than a few yards when the sound of small engines came from above. Sonic's ears twitched in alert and he whipped his head around to see where the sound was coming from.

A platoon of robots came out of the darkness of the night and landed on the ground, stopping the girl.

The girl gave a gasp of alarm and stepped back. She looked around frantically to see if she could find any way out, but the robots had her completely surrounded. Each of them had their laser guns charged, and were pointing them at her.

She reached inside her hip pouch…

…And stiffened in horror.

Sonic immediately leapt into action. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he didn't care. The only thing that registered in his brain was that these robots were attacking a defenseless person.

Before the girl knew what was happening, there was a sudden gust of wind and a blue blur came from what seemed to be out of nowhere and began knocking out the robots one by one. In a matter of seconds, all of the robots were on the ground in heaps of bashed-up metal with exposed, broken wires that sparked and flickered.

After he was through defeating the robots, Sonic came out of his spin-dash and landed skillfully on the ground. He looked back at the damage he did and wiped his hands like an artist admiring his handy work.

"Too easy," he said cockily. "No sweat."

He then turned around to the human girl.

"You okay?"

The girl hesitated for a second before saying, "Uh, I think so. Thank you."

"No problem." Sonic shrugged. "But you really shouldn't be out here on your own. You're just lucky I showed up."

"I'm very sorry," the girl said hastily, "but I'm in a bit of a hurry."

The girl turned around and began to run back down the path she used before.

"Wait!" Sonic called out. "Didn't you just come that way?!"

"Yes!" the girl replied. "But I…I dropped something! I need to find it!"

"You mean this?!"

The girl stopped and turned back around towards the Mobian. Sonic slipped the diamond necklace out of his glove and displayed it in the palm of his hand. Now that it was in the blackness of the night, Sonic could see that it was glowing faintly, almost like a distant star.

Upon seeing the necklace, the girl ran back over to Sonic.

"Oh, thank you!" she said gratefully. "Thank you so much!"

The girl bent down to retrieve the diamond. As she did, Sonic saw her face. Now that her sunglasses were off, he could see that she had bright blue eyes. And something about those eyes made him squint in curiosity. He felt as if he had seen her before.

Just as she took the necklace, he said, "Uh, sorry if this sounds weird, but you look kind of familiar."

The girl looked sharply up at him with shock. She stared straight into his emerald green eyes.

"You…you remember me?" she said, her voice wavering between hopeful and fearful.

Sonic blinked and leaned back a bit in mild discomfort. His face showed his puzzlement quite clearly.

He was about to ask her what she meant by that when he got interrupted.

"Sonic of all people?!" a familiar voice shouted angrily. "Why are you here?!"

Both Sonic and the girl looked up immediately. To Sonic's dull revelation, some kind of hovercraft surrounded by combat robots came down from the sky. When the craft and robots reached the same level as the platform, Sonic saw a man in the cockpit of the hovercraft. He was roughly in the shape of an egg, with a large mustache, and dressed in a red and black suit.

Sonic frowned as he recognized the person.

"Dr. Eggman," he said dryly, folding his arms across his chest. "Why am I not surprised?"

"No more than I am to see you!" Eggman scowled.

The human girl shivered with fear and clutched the necklace with trembling hands, pressing it close to her heart at the same time. She started to take a step back, but immediately stopped when she remembered that dangerous robots surrounded them. She didn't want to accidently bump into one behind her. She looked around to see if there was any way out.

There wasn't. They were trapped.

However, Sonic wasn't intimidated by the situation at all. It was plain to see by the confident smirk on his face that he wasn't afraid in the slightest.

This was nothing more than child's play to him.

"Now what are you doing here?!" Eggman demanded.

"Well, my friends and I _were_ here on vacation." Sonic said sarcastically. "But I guess its cut short now thanks to you showing up. What are you doing here anyway? I hope this isn't like the time when you tried to unleash a water monster, or blow up the world with a space station."

"None of your business, hedgehog!" Eggman bellowed. "Swat Bots, ATTACK!"


	2. Chapter 2

**The Magic Circle**

Sonic darted and scooped the Human girl up in his arms just as the robots fired their lasers. The girl let out a cry of fear and as Sonic jumped high into the air. Her hat almost flew off, managed to grab it with one of her hands and kept it on her head.

Sonic landed on the ground outside of the circle of robots. He set the girl down and turned his attention back to the robots. The girl tried to stand up, but she was so shaken up that her limbs refused to obey.

"Get somewhere safe!" Sonic ordered her. "I can handle this!"

The girl hesitated for a moment. She looked back at the group of robots, who had now all turned in the direction of her and Sonic and were getting ready to fire again.

"GO NOW!" Sonic shouted forcefully.

As if there was some kind of magic spell in the way Sonic said those words, the girl quickly got to her feet and set out in a mad-dash towards an alleyway.

Sonic dashed forward before curling up into a ball and plowed right through the line of robots like a bowling ball knocking over a set of pins. He stopped immediately and landed on the ground.

He heard a scream from behind and quickly turned around.

Dr. Eggman had seized the girl in the clutches of his Egg-Mobile and was now flying away.

Sonic was about to go after him when something small and pink leapt off the roof of a nearby building. It sailed over the cockpit of the mad scientist's flying machine and smashed the joint of the mechanical claw with a giant Piko-Piko hammer.

At the same time, a yellow blur swooped right over Sonic's head and towards the falling claw.

Sonic gave a short laugh.

"Amy! Tails!"

Of course, his friends always came just in the nick of time. And right now, he was sure glad they did.

Tails reached the claw, which was now falling apart from the impact of Amy's hammer, and grabbed the human girl by her waist just before she hit the ground.

"Hey, great timing you guys!" Sonic said with a cocky smile and a thumbs-up.

"You're welcome, Sonic!" Amy winked in response as she gracefully landed on the ground.

Eggman quickly got his senses back after that surprise attack. Needless to say, he was even more annoyed than before now that he realized that his arch nemesis wasn't alone.

"NOT YOU TWO AS WELL!" he bellowed. "HEY, WHERE'D THAT FLYING FUR BALL GO?!"

When Eggman wasn't looking, Tails, using his two tails like a helicopter propeller, flew the human girl into a dark alley. Once he was safely out of sight, he lowered the girl down until her feet touched the gournd. Shaken, but unharmed, the girl leaned up against the wall and panted heavily as she tried to get her breath back.

"Are you alright?" Tails asked, concerned.

"I…yes," the girl slowly nodded.

"Just wait here until the fight's over." Tails commanded gently. "Make sure you stay out of sight."

The girl nodded.

With that, Tails flew back out to the battle to aid his friends. The girl moved to the edge of the alley. Being careful not to give away her hiding place, she peeked around the corner to see what would happen.

For Sonic, Amy, and Eggman's perspective, Tails flew out of what seemed to be nowhere. He headed straight for the nearest Swat Bot and twisted around so that his two tails hit the robot and knocked it over.

"Nice one, buddy!" Sonic smirked.

"Stay focused, Sonic!" Amy shouted, crushing another robot with her large hammer. "This isn't over yet!"

Sonic gave a dismissive shrug before darting forward and spin-dashing into another Swat Bot. Then like a pinball in a machine, he shot towards another and another with such speed that it was hard to see him at all. The only evidence that he had hit the robots was that they blew up and their parts fell to the ground.

Amy used her hammer to knock away robots with a force that seemed to be impossible for a small Mobian hedgehog like herself.

Tails whipped around and used his two tails to knock over several robots at once. However, while he was tripping more robots than his fellow comrades, his strength wasn't enough to destroy any. The most he did was knock them off balance so that either Sonic or Amy could finish them off.

What made matters even more difficult was that Eggman kept calling for more robots. Every time the three Mobians took out one robot, another one seemed to show up in its place. There was just no end to them. It was like Eggman had a whole regiment just lying in wait.

Then again, Sonic knew the crazy doctor well enough by now to know that he always had back-up plans.

On top of calling more robots, Eggman also looked around for any sight of the Human girl. Eventually, he grew angry and frustrated that she was nowhere to be seen.

Knowing that Tails had hidden her somewhere, Eggman turned his rage towards the little twin-tailed Fox.

"WHERE'D YOU STASH THE GIRL, YOU BRAT!" the scientist roared.

"Like I'm gonna tell you!" Tails shot back, trying to make himself sound tough.

"ALRIGHT, YOU ASKED FOR IT! SWAT BOTS, FIRE ON THE TWIN-TAILED FOX!"

Sonic jolted in shock when he heard that. He turned around sharply in time to see all the robots turn the guns towards Tails!

"NO! TAILS!" Sonic shouted and was about to rush in and save his best friend.

All of a sudden, a bright, pale blue circle with a strange pattern appeared underneath Tails. The twin-tailed Mobian Fox jumped and yelped in shock as a soft red light began to swirl up and around him.

When the mysterious circle disappeared, Tails had a rose-colored aura emanating from him.

"What?!" Eggman said, stupefied with the situation.

"TAILS, LOOK OUT!" Amy shrieked.

Tails looked up just in time to see a Swat Bot take aim at him and fire. He leapt up and out of the way and used his tails to hover for a moment. He swooped down and whipped around, smacking two robots with his tails, expecting them to fall over like before.

However, to everyone's opened-mouth surprise, the two robots snapped in two at the point where they were hit, and fell to the ground in heaps of metal.

"Whoa!" Sonic exclaimed, his eyes big with disbelief.

He was so dumbfounded by his little buddy's new strength that for a moment he forgot about the battle going on. A Swat Bot began to sneak up behind him and prepared to fire a shot.

Luckily, Tails managed to turn around in time to see it.

"SONIC! BEHIND YOU!" he cried and pointed.

Sonic quickly turned around just as the Swat Bot shoot at him. He immediately dodged the attack by cartwheeling out of the way.

Still, Sonic winced a little as he felt a small, sharp sting the upper part of his left arm as the bullet shot past him. He immediately disregarded it and got his mind back into the fight. He regained his balance and spin-dashed into the robot, causing it to explode.

With the upper hand on their side now, Sonic, Tails and Amy defeated all of the robots in just a few minutes.

With his robots defeated, Eggman, fuming with anger, flew away in his Egg-Mobile.

"THIS ISN'T OVER YET, SONIC!" he bellowed, shaking his fist in the air. "I'LL BE BACK WITH AN EVEN STRONGER ROBOTS! JUST YOU WAIT!"

Sonic was about to rush off and stop his nemesis when Amy quickly grabbed his wrist. This made him stop and look at her.

"Let him go, Sonic," the pink Mobian Hedgehog pleaded. "You used up a lot of energy in this fight. If you go after him now you'll get hurt. Please."

Sonic could clearly see the concern and weariness in Amy's eyes. He looked back and forth between Amy and the direction that Eggman had used to retreat. Part of him want to chase after the mad scientist and finish the fight, but the other part of him didn't want to leave a worried Amy.

Not to mention, he was starting to feel a little fatigued. He was just too proud to admit it.

"Fine, you win." he exhaled deeply, clearly showing disappointment.

Sonic and Amy then turned their attention back to Tails. The strange aura around him began to fade away, and he soon returned to his normal self. Confused, he looked straight in the eyes of his equally-confused friends.

"Tails, what happened?" Amy asked with bewilderment. "How did you do all that?"

"I don't really know." Tails shook his head. "I just suddenly felt stronger. And then I was able to…that."

Tails pointed to a pile behind him. It had about eight robots, all busted up into individual parts. And each part was dented up from the fox's tail whips.

"Well," Sonic said, firmly placing his fists on his hips, "either you been doing push-ups with your tails or that circle thingy really gave you a major boost."

"I think it was that circle." Tails replied, sounding pretty sure of his answer. "I just wonder where it came from."

It was then that a voice came from behind them.

"Are you all alright?"

Sonic, Tails, and Amy turned to see the human girl standing just a few feet away from them. She had her hands clasp together in front of her chest, and she looked concerned.

"Yeah, we're fine." Sonic answered with a shrug. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, thanks to all of you." the girl nodded graciously. "Thank you for saving me."

"You're welcome." Amy smiled and curtsied. "We're just glad you're okay. By the way, my name's Amy Rose. This is Tails, and this is Sonic."

The human girl bowed in response. It was a rather graceful bow for someone who looked like they belonged on a skateboard or in roller skates.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," her voice was calm and gentle.

"Aren't you going to tell us who you are?" Sonic asked. "We don't even know your name."

The girl hesitated for a moment. She brought a hand up to her chin and gave a very pensive face. It was clear to see that she was thinking hard about something. But how hard was it to think about saying her name?

"The commotion came from over here, Officer!" a male voice in the distance shouted.

The group of four all jumped in alarm and turned around to see where the voice was coming from. They didn't see anyone, but they could hear a cluster of footsteps getting closer and closer by the second.

"Well, I guess we were bound to attract some attention." Sonic frowned, sounding more sarcastic rather than concerned.

At the same time, the Human girl ran over to the others and grabbed Sonic's shoulder. He turned around sharply as she did.

"Hey, what's-!" he started before she cut him off.

"Come with me, quickly!" she said urgently. "I promise I'll explain everything later! But hurry; we mustn't get caught!"

Sonic raised a suspicious eyebrow for a second. He then looked over at Tails and Amy to see what they were thinking. They didn't have to tell him verbally what they should do; their eyes said it all.

"Okay let's get moving." Sonic nodded.

"Follow me!" the girl beckoned.

The group ran after the Human girl as she led them down a dark street and away from the heaps of destroyed robots. They rounded a corner and disappeared just as a squad of Soleanna soldiers and a few citizens arrived on the scene.

Sonic wasn't quite sure who this girl was, or where she was leading them, but one thing was clear: she was the one that Dr. Eggman was after. And if Eggman was involved with this, then the Mobian Hedgehog couldn't just walk away.

Besides, he hadn't had a good adventure lately. It was about time there was some excitement.


	3. Chapter 3

**Princess and Mystic**

After a few minutes, the Human girl led Sonic, Tails and Amy to a large building that was in the center of the city.

The three Mobians turned their heads upwards to look at the cathedral-like structure. Under the moonlight, it had the appearance of being made of gold. It had a very sharp and powerful appearance, almost something like sun-fire decorating the exterior. Above a set of large, mahogany doors was a large stain glass window that had the image of Soleanna's crest.

"This place is huge." Amy breathed in awe.

"Guys," Tails whispered in amazement, "this is the Temple of Solaris."

"Yeah, what about it?" Sonic asked, sounding more disinterested than curious.

Tails was about to answer the question when the Human girl opened one of the large doors.

"In here," she ushered.

Sonic, Tails, and Amy followed the girl inside the Temple and she closed the door behind them. They soon found themselves standing inside of an annex that was lit by only two torches that were on opposite sides of the door.

"This way," the girl said.

The girl walked towards another entrance just in front of them. It led into a long tunnel that had a golden light shining at the end of it. The three Mobians simply obeyed orders and followed the girl through the tunnel.

As they got closer towards the light at the end, Sonic began to feel a strange warmth growing stronger and stronger with each step they took. It was like the summer sun had leaked its rays through the building's walls.

Finally, the group of four walked out of the tunnel. Sonic, Tails, and Amy all stopped for a moment and stared in wonder at the sight before them.

The chamber was large, rectangular, and looked as if it was made of something like pure white marble. On each side of the chamber, there were large arching doorways that led into other rooms that seemed to be just as big as the main room. There were also beautiful carvings decorating the walls, ceiling, and pillars. On the far side of the room was a set of stairs that led up to some kind of alter. Behind the alter, there was a small cavity in the wall with the Soleanna symbol of a phoenix carved around it.

The thing that Sonic noticed the most was that the room was as bright as a sunny day, but there was no source of light anywhere to be seen. No lamps, torches, or anything. The room just seemed to alit with an unseen source of sunlight. And it was as warm as summer on the beach.

However, the moment of awe was interrupted by a strong - and rather upset - voice.

"Your Highness, why have you brought those three with you?!"

Sonic, Tails and Amy all snapped out of their trances. They looked straight ahead of them, and were surprised to see five people walking towards them. Four of them were humans, and each of them were wearing oak-brown cloaks with the hoods up, concealing their faces. The shortest one among them, and the one who had white ceremonial robes, was an elderly Mobian Chipmunk.

Once they had gotten within three yards of Sonic and his group, they stopped and stared at the two Mobian Hedgehogs and Fox with suspicion.

"Wait," Tails said, "aren't you the Priests that were in the Torch Ceremony earlier? I remember seeing you."

"And what did you mean by 'Your Highness'?" Amy asked.

As if to answer that question, the mystery Human girl took off her hat. The three Mobians stiffened in shock when they saw that she had short, ruby-red hair, with a thin white headband in it. The moment she turned back to look at them, they recognized her in an instant. She was the one who was in the Torch Ceremony.

It was the Princess of Soleanna; Elise the Third.

"No way!" Sonic exclaimed, pointing at the girl. "YOU'RE the Princess?!"

"Sonic!" Amy scolded harshly. "Don't point at her! It's rude!"

"It's alright, Amy." Elise said calmly. "I expected you would be shocked. That's why I wanted to wait until we got to this Temple before I revealed my identity to you."

Elise then turned to the Priests.

"It's fine, everyone," she said with authority. "These three Mobians rescued me just now. I am certain that we can trust them."

"With all due respect, Princess Elise," the High Priest replied sternly, "you know that the affairs involving Solaris and Mephiles are kept strictly within the Royal Family and Priests. I do not think it is wise to involve outsiders into our council."

Elise narrowed her eyes a little bit. Not in a threatening way, but certainly in a commanding way.

"I am fully cognizant of my duties as a member of the Royal Family, High Priest," she said, "and I understand your concerns. However, I'm afraid that the situation may become more than we can handle on our own. We can't let the past repeat itself."

There was a small silence. Neither the Priest or the Princess wanted to waver from their beliefs. However, Elise seemed to have the strongest gleam of belief and determination in her eyes. Everyone one in the room could see it.

Eventually, the High Priest lowered his head and turned back to the other Priests. He began speaking to them in a soft voice, and they spoke to him in the same way. Their voices were so low and muffled that none of the four bystanders could hear what they were saying clearly.

Sonic leaned over to Tails, raising his right hand and cupping it around his mouth.

"What do you think their talking about?" he whispered.

"I don't know." Tails replied in a hushed voice. "But it's probably something really important."

"You think they'll tell us what it is or not?"

"Not sure. It sounds like a matter of secrecy."

Sonic was about to ask another question when the High Priest gave a small defeated sigh and turned back to the Princess.

"Very well, Princess," he said, almost in a gravely tone. "We will trust your judgment for now. All we hope for is that you know what you're doing."

Elise nodded in understanding.

"Let me consult with them first," she said.

Elise turned to Sonic, Tails and Amy, and bowed respectfully to them.

"Sonic, Tails, Amy," she said with grace, "I thank you all for saving me earlier, and returning the Amulet of Light to me. I know that this is a lot to ask of you, I humbly request for your assistance. I fear that Soleanna will be facing a terrible crisis if we do not act quickly. I have seen how skilled you all are in combat, and I am certain that you can help us. But I leave the choice to you."

Sonic, Tails, and Amy all exchanged both confused and concerned glances. What terrible crisis was Elise talking about?

"Just how bad is the situation here?" Sonic asked, raising an eyebrow.

"If nothing is done soon," Elise replied seriously, "then the world as we know it will be destroyed by darkness."

Sonic looked back at Tails and Amy for a moment. He didn't need to think his decision over. He knew exactly what his answer was. He just wanted to see what their reply would be.

Tails and Amy both just nodded in agreement. Sonic cockily smirked and snickered. He turned back to Elise and winked.

"You can count us in," he answered. "We live for end-of-the-world situations. Sounds like this is going to be fun."

Elise smiled as he eyes lit up with hopefulness. She straightened herself and exhaled deeply.

"Thank you all," she said. "Now before we get started, there are some things that you need to…"

Elise stopped short in her sentence as her eyes cast over onto Sonic's left arm. She gave a mild gasp of surprise when she saw something.

"You're hurt."

Sonic followed Elise's gaze and saw a thin scratch on the upper part of his left arm. He blinked when he remembered that one of the robots from before had managed to graze him a bit with one of its bullets.

"Oh, would you look at that," he shrugged casually. "It's nothing. I get nicks like this all the time."

Elise didn't seem to be listening though. She walked over to Sonic and knelt down to his level. She gently reached out and grabbed his arm in a caring manner. Sonic leaned back a bit with an uncomfortable expression on his face.

"Uh, what are you doin'? he asked, his voice monotone.

"Just let me take a look." Elise replied, examining the cut on Sonic's arm. "Well, it's not serious, that's good. But still."

Elise then brought her two fingers to her mouth and took in a small breath of air.

"Princess!" the High Priest exclaimed. "You shouldn't! Not in front of them!"

"It's alright, High Priest." Elise simply replied. "I know we can trust them."

Before the High Priest could protest any further, Elise gently blew out a warm breath of air on her fingers. As she did, her fingers began to glow a gentle, bluish-teal color. Sonic, Tails and Amy all jolted a little in shock when they saw that. Elise then opened her eyes and brought her now-glowing fingers over to the cut on Sonic arm. She gently placed her fingers on the wound. The injury glowed the same color for a second. As Elise removed her fingers, the light faded away.

Sonic stared in disbelief. The cut on his arm was completely gone. There wasn't even a scar left behind. It was like it had never been there before.

"What the-?!" he stuttered. "What did you-?! How'd you do that?!"

Elise let go of Sonic's arm and stood up. She took a single step back and brushed some of her hair behind her left ear.

"The Princess is a direct descendent of the Soleanna Royal Family," the High Priest spoke up. "And according to ancient legend, the Sun god our country honors, Solaris, granted magic to the Soleanna Royal Family, and all its descendants."

"Magic?" Amy said, her eyes widening in surprise. "You mean Princess Elise has magic?"

"If that's true," Tails said pensively, "then that would make her a Mystic, wouldn't it?"

Elise slowly nodded.

"Yes, I am a Mystic. You know about Mystics?"

"What's a Mystic, anyway?" Sonic asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I've only read a little bit about Mystics." Tails explained. "But from what I gathered, Mystics are people who possess magical powers. They can be either Humans like Elise, or Mobians like us."

"That is true." Elise nodded. "Though I'm afraid that there are very few Mystics left in the world. As far as I know, I'm the only one in Soleanna."

"Well, that must be a bummer." Sonic replied. "But hey, makes you one of a kind, right?"

Elise blinked. She then gave a small smile as Sonic's remark resonated with her.

"But didn't you say that your ancestors got their powers from…uh… this Solaris guy?" Sonic asked.

"Yes." Elise answered. "Solaris is our sun god. He protects and watches over Soleanna. Long ago, he granted magic to the Royal Family. He also entrusted the Amulet of Light to the Royal Family to guard and protect."

Elise reached into her hip bag and pulled out the diamond necklace. She displayed it in the palm of her hand for Sonic, Tails, and Amy to see.

"This is the Amulet of Light?" Tails asked.

"Yes," Elise nodded, "and I'm sure that man we encountered before was after it."

"You mean Dr. Eggman." Sonic said casually. "Oh, don't worry about him. The three of us can handle him no problem."

Elise was about to respond to Sonic's statemtn when a beeping sound came from behind her. She, as well as Sonic, Tails, and Amy, all turned to see the High Priest pull out a communicator from under his robe.

"Please, excuse me," he said.

The High Priest hastily walked out of the main room and into one of the side rooms.

"Hey, that was a G.U.N communicator." Tails observed. "But why do you have one?"

"They're helping us with an investigation," a female Priest explained. "An ancient and dangerous artifact was stolen from us. We aren't sure who did it, but G.U.N. is helping us locate the criminal. They have a base up in the northern mountain range."

Tails lowered his gaze towards the ground and brought his hand up to his chin.

"An artifact of Soleanna goes missing," he mumbled thoughtfully. "And Eggman appears out of nowhere."

"Sounds to me like those two events might be connected." Sonic said.

"I agree." Amy replied. "There's no way that this is a coincidence."

"You mean you think this Dr. Eggman is the one who stole the Scepter of Darkness?" Elise said, her eyes showing a small amount of dread.

"Most likely." Sonic said. "It wouldn't be the first time he pulled a stunt like this. He's always looking for the next powerful thing he can use to make Eggmanland. Trust me, this guy has got a lot of time on his hands."

Elise narrowed her eyes into a concerned expression. She gripped the Amulet of Light tightly and held it close to her heart.

"What's wrong, Elise?" Amy asked caringly.

"He has no idea what he's about to unleash." Elise said in a low voice.

At that moment, the High Priest came running back into the room. He stopped when he reached the rest of group. Sonic became a little apprehensive when he saw that the old Chipmunk's eyes were wide with terror, and his face was very pale. Something told the blue Mobian hedgehog that whatever the G.U.N. had told this guy wasn't good.

"High Priest?" Elise inhaled sharply. "What's the matter?"

"Princess," he said fearfully, "I have very bad news."

"What is it?"

The High Priest swallowed hard before saying in a shaken voice.

"Mephiles has been unleashed."

Upon hearing that, Elise and the other Priests all gasped in shock and fear.

"Who's Mephiles?" Sonic asked.

No one answered his question. They were too worried about the news they had been told. It was clear to see that they were struck with pure fright because of it.

Tails and Amy also fell silent and looked at each other with worry. This didn't know what was going on, but it obviously wasn't good. Whoever this Mephiles guy was, he must be someone dangerous to make everyone have a reaction like that.

Finally, Elise broke the silence with an urgent tone in her voice

"How did this happen?! Please, tell me!"

The High Priest took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

"Well, G.U.N. had managed to find the location of the Scepter of Darkness. The one who had stolen it had set up a base in the ruins in the desert east of here. G.U.N. sent their best team to retrieve it earlier tonight…"


End file.
